Shane O’Bree played in 17 finals during 13 years in the AFL.

Fifteen of those were played while wearing the Black and White stripes.

Two of them were in Grand Finals.

None of them ended with his hands on the premiership cup.

Finally, five full years after his retirement, O’Bree has reached the pinnacle. And, as fate would have it, it was done while wearing a Black and White jumper.

O’Bree was a member of Darley’s victory over North Ballarat City in the Ballarat Football League last weekend.

The Devils kicked 11.18 (84) to 3.5 (23), with O’Bree donning the No. 39 jumper.

The 36-year-old, who is now an assistant coach at Geelong, played alongside his cousins Jarrod and Jake Edwards and ranked the win among the finest of his career.

“I’ve never won a senior premiership before, so it’s great to finally get one, especially with my cousins and the whole footy club,” O’Bree told The Courier’s Pat Nolan.

“It’s a great footy club actually, it’s a tight-knit group and the way they look after the young guys is just amazing.”

PLAYER PROFILE: O'Bree on forever.collingwoodfc.com.au.

O’Bree is not the only Collingwood link to Darley, for it was from the western district town that Heath Scotland emerged to play 268 senior games (52 of which were for Collingwood).

Flick back even further into the club’s history books and you will find the name of Marcus Whelan, winner of the 1939 Brownlow Medal and a member of Collingwood’s Team of the Century.

O’Bree wasn’t the only former Magpie who was drinking from a premiership cup on the weekend, either.

Shane Morwood, a key member in the 1990 premiership team, led Dingley to success in the Southern Football League with victory over Mordialloc.

“It’s the culmination of a three-year plan that took five years, but it was worth waiting for,” Morwood told the Moorabbin Kingston Leader’s Daryl Pitman post-match.

“The feeling now that we’ve achieved it is surreal.”